Different types of moveable barrier operators have been sold over the years and these systems have been used to actuate various types of moveable barriers. For example, garage door operators have been used to move garage doors and gate operators have been used to open and close gates.
Such barrier movement operators may include a wall control unit, which is connected to send signals to a head unit thereby causing the head unit to open and close the barrier. In addition, these operators often include a receiver unit at the head unit to receive wireless transmissions from a hand-held code transmitter or from a keypad transmitter, which may be affixed to the outside of the area closed by the barrier or other structure.
Barrier actuating devices are often employed in these systems to actuate moveable barrier operators that move barriers. For instance, a user may utilize a garage door opener from their vehicle to open and close a garage door or use a gate operator to open and close a gate.
Security problems occur in these systems when unauthorized users obtain a barrier actuating device of an authorized user in order to obtain entry into a secure area. For example, a portable transmitter can be stolen from its owner and used by the unauthorized user to open the garage door and gain entry into the home of the owner of the transmitter.
Previous systems sometimes manually enabled the operation of portable transmitters to prevent unauthorized use. However, these systems were cumbersome to use because they were not automatic in operation. Other systems used beacons to enable transmitter operation. However, the beacons enabled all transmitters no matter the identity of the person actuating the transmitter. Consequently, unauthorized users could still use the transmitters to gain entry into secure areas.